Blog

3 Ways Engineers Can Build Self-Confidence

March 7, 2022 By EMI

This is a guest post by Tiffani Teachey

Engineers often face challenges that can test their self-confidence. Whether it’s dealing with difficult problems or working with challenging team members, there are plenty of situations that can knock an engineer’s confidence down. However, there are three specific ways engineers can use to build self-confidence and come out on top: learning new skills, seeking feedback, and practicing assertiveness. In this blog post, we’ll explore each of these methods in detail and provide tips on how to put them into practice. By following these tips, you’ll be able to boost your self-confidence and become a more successful engineer.

Designing Our Ideal Day to Achieve Greater Success

February 28, 2022 By EMI

This is a guest post by Peter C. Atherton, P.E.

The number one reason most often expressed to me in strategic planning and team development work for not taking advantage of new opportunities is a “lack of time.”

A lack of time (and inability to effectively manage time) is not only holding many of us back from taking advantage of new opportunities, it’s hurting us individually and organizationally.

Managing our time and energy has — and always will — be critical to our success in almost all aspects of our lives. If we want to lead ourselves and others forward, especially today, we need to proactively “change the game” and establish a new model for better time management.

We have the power right now to better manage our time, and as leaders and managers, a “lack of time” can no longer be an excuse for not doing what needs to be done or not investing in what needs to be invested in, because:

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, and we make time for what we value or what we are “valuing.”
In the eyes of top talent and clients, constantly being busy and consumed is not a “badge of honor.” In fact, it’s become a “red flag.”
Asking ourselves and most others to just put in more time is untenable.

So, how can you begin to solve the “lack of time” problem? Learning how to design your ideal day and then aligning it with others is a great place to start. I recommend five key steps in designing your ideal day.

Strengthen Your Self-Confidence

February 21, 2022 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Gina Covarrubias

In this post, I’d like to share three mental exercises that you can use to build a daily practice to strengthen your self-confidence!

Exercise #1: Embrace Emotions, Both Positive and Negative

While many definitions of your self-confidence exist, I will share my favorite: Self-confidence is the willingness to feel any emotion.

As terrible as some emotions feel, they are not harmful. The stronger your ability to accept and allow emotions, positive and negative, the more accomplished you will become.

Stomp Out the ANTs With Your Self-Confidence

February 14, 2022 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Pamela A. Scott

Building self-confidence, in my opinion, is like a tug of war in your head. One part of you is saying, “I can do this,” while the other part of you is saying, “No you can’t. You’re a disaster.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear — even in your own head.” That advice comes from Dr. Daniel Amen, who coined the term ANTs—Automatic Negative Thoughts. Just like real ants that ruin your picnic, ANTs can ruin your day.

Your goal is to stomp out those ANTs. Kill those negative thoughts. Don’t listen to them when they pop into your brain. Remember, you are in charge, not the ANTs. Dr. Amen has some suggestions on how to do that here.

People See What You Project

Breaking Down Impostor Syndrome for Ambitious Engineers

February 7, 2022 By EMI

This is a guest post by Jeff Perry, MBA

“It’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you are not.” ~ Denis Waitley

Impostor syndrome is a common struggle. We all have it — at least to some degree. And those who don’t think they have it at all are probably just too prideful to recognize or admit it.

It’s this feeling like we don’t belong. Even when we’re doing good work, there is this lingering fear that perhaps one day someone with a clipboard is going to come up to us and say, “I’m sorry, it appears we’ve made a mistake — you need to go now.”

But how do we manage it so it doesn’t keep us down, hold us back, and limit our success? Let’s talk about that!

Name It to Tame It: An Example

Two Types of Goals That Matter When Leading People

January 31, 2022 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Patrick Sweet, P.Eng., MBA, PMP, CSEP

Of all the lessons that I’ve learned over the course of my career, one stands out as possibly the most important and impactful:

The successful manager manages performance, not the person.

An engineering manager is responsible for the performance of the team. Projects still need to be completed on time and on budget. Work outputs need to be high quality. This is where management of performance comes in. A successful engineering manager must take great care to establish clear performance expectations so that the team understands what is expected of them and how their work will be evaluated.

Measuring Performance

How to Approach Mentorship in Your Engineering Career

January 24, 2022 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Steve Soldati, P.E.

What do you want out of your career? What are your aspirations? What are your short- and long-term goals? Are you on the right track or are you veering off? These are the questions that many engineers have either thought about or even dug deeper to answer, and then are some who might not have even sat down to think about where they are going. They are just living day-by-day, clocking in, and keeping afloat.

For the record, there is no right answer nor one answer on how any particular person handles their career, job, or contribution to this industry. However, what happens all too often is an engineer can identify their goals, have an idea of where they want to go in their career, but just don’t know where to start or HOW to get there.

This is a scenario that I found myself in many years ago when I was a younger engineer trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my career. Especially in civil engineering, which is a broad industry that has a lot to offer for different career paths. The solution to this dilemma is mentorship. But it’s not quite as formal as you might think it is. You’ll read below about how you can approach a mentorship to tailor to your career and the resources available.

Trends & Predictions for Professional Services Firms in 2022 (From a CEO)

January 17, 2022 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Leanna Michniuk from BigTime Software

Whether we can believe it or not, 2022 is here. What does this mean for people and firms in the professional services industry? If it’s anything like the past two years, we can expect … well, the unexpected.

Using what he’s learned and experienced firsthand throughout his career and leading a company through a pandemic, Brian Saunders, CEO of BigTime Software, sat down to share his predictions for the new year with one key theme in mind — preparation.

Keep on reading to get an inside look into what Brian foresees in the upcoming year and his advice for making it a successful one.

Why 90-Day Goals Are More Practical Than Annual Goals

January 10, 2022 By EMI

It’s that time of year. In January, you’ll typically find a lot of content being published about goal setting. Blog posts and podcasts urging you to set goals for the new year. Believe me, there is no bigger proponent of goal setting than myself. In fact, at EMI, we work with engineering companies to help them ensure their leaders are focused on the right goals. That being said, I have found that most professionals who set goals will spend less than one hour in late December or early January creating a list of goals for the year, only to file their list of goals away and rarely look at it again for the remainder of that calendar year.

Try Setting 90-Day Goals Too

If you are one of those professionals who set lofty goals on or about January 1st, but then get buried in your projects and neglect them, try setting shorter-term goals in addition to your larger goals. I recommend 90-day goals, also known as quarterly goals. At EMI, we have strategic initiatives from our strategic plan from which we reduce strategic actions, which get further reduced down to quarterly goals for each team member.

Let’s be honest: one year is a very long time, especially when you get dealt curveballs like a global pandemic. To think that your goal at the end of the year will still be the same as it was 365 days ago isn’t very realistic and doesn’t allow for flexibility.

Goal Setting: The Meaning of Failure and Success

January 3, 2022 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Gina Covarrubias

Why should we set goals — to obtain success, achievement, or happiness? And how are we supposed to manage failure when our goals fall short? In this post, you will discover newfound insights to help you answer these questions!

« Previous Page

3 Ways Engineers Can Build Self-Confidence

This is a guest post by Tiffani Teachey

Designing Our Ideal Day to Achieve Greater Success

This is a guest post by Peter C. Atherton, P.E.

Strengthen Your Self-Confidence

This is a guest blog by Gina Covarrubias

Exercise #1: Embrace Emotions, Both Positive and Negative

Stomp Out the ANTs With Your Self-Confidence

This is a guest blog by Pamela A. Scott

People See What You Project

Breaking Down Impostor Syndrome for Ambitious Engineers

This is a guest post by Jeff Perry, MBA

“It’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you are not.” ~ Denis Waitley

Name It to Tame It: An Example

Two Types of Goals That Matter When Leading People

This is a guest blog by Patrick Sweet, P.Eng., MBA, PMP, CSEP

The successful manager manages performance, not the person.

Measuring Performance

How to Approach Mentorship in Your Engineering Career

This is a guest blog by Steve Soldati, P.E.

Trends & Predictions for Professional Services Firms in 2022 (From a CEO)

This is a guest blog by Leanna Michniuk from BigTime Software

Why 90-Day Goals Are More Practical Than Annual Goals

Try Setting 90-Day Goals Too

Goal Setting: The Meaning of Failure and Success

This is a guest blog by Gina Covarrubias

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

We Can Help You:

Location: